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About Stanley Tucci:

Stanley Tucci is an American actor, writer, film producer and film director. He was nominated for several notable film awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in The Lovely Bones (2009). Tucci's other recent celebrated roles have been in The Devil Wears Prada and Julie & Julia.

Tucci made his Broadway debut in The Queen and the Rebels. His film debut was in Prizzi's Honor. Tucci is known for his work in films such as The Pelican Brief, Kiss of Death, Road to Perdition and Big Night, and in the television series Murder One as the mysterious Richard Cross. Tucci co-wrote the award winning film, Big Night, with Joseph Tropiano, he also starred in it, and co-directed with Campbell Scott. Big Night premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where he and Tropiano, won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay among many other awards.

He has been nominated three times for Golden Globes, and won twice - for his title role in Winchell, and for his supporting role as Adolph Eichmann in Conspiracy, both from HBO films. He also received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Winchell. He was nominated for Broadway's Tony Award as Best Actor in a Play for his role as Johnny in the 2002 revival of Terrence McNally's Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.

In 2008, Tucci partnered with his friend for more than 20 years, Steve Buscemi and Wren Arthur to form OLIVE Productions, a New York based film and television company. One of OLIVE's mandates is to cast a wide net when developing film and television material, with a portion of the projects to be earmarked for Stanley and Steve to direct. OLIVE is a co-producer of VINE TALK, and additionally has other TV shows in development at HBO and AMC. It also has film projects currently in development at HBO, SONY and Fox Searchlight. Tucci will direct an upcoming comedy entitled Mommy & Me starring Meryl Streep and Tina Fey as mother and daughter.

Henry VIII’s Wine Fountain Recreated

How’d you like to drink out of Henry VIII’s wine fountain? If the answer is yes, you are in luck. In 2010, Henry’s Hampton Court Palace wine fountain was recreated. Most of the time it has water, but on select days it serves red and white wine for £3.50 per glass.

According to the press release, the project to recreate the fountain was inspired by the discovery of the remains of a sixteenth-century conduit (or fountain) during a major archaeological dig at the palace in 2008. The new fountain, which is over 12 feet tall, is constructed from authentic materials including timber, lead, bronze and gold-leaf.

The design of the fountain is inspired by a number of historic sources including the Field of the Cloth of Gold painting and The Triumph of Bacchus tapestry (which shows winemaking and drinking around a large wine fountain)—both of which are displayed at the palace. The Field of the Cloth of Gold painting, created in the 1540s for Henry VIII, depicts a meeting with the French King, Francis I, at Guînes in 1520. Both kings tried to out-do one another with cultural displays and entertainments and, as shown in the painting, Henry VIII built an elaborate ‘pop-up’ palace with two large wine fountains.

Accounts from the period indicate it was common for wine to be run through public fountains as part of lavish festivals and celebrations, such as when the king or queen were formally welcomed into the City of London. When Anne Boleyn processed through London for her coronation in 1533, many of the public fountains were converted to wine fountains.

Dr. Kent Rawlinson, Curator of Historic Buildings at Hampton Court Palace commented: “Hampton Court was a ‘pleasure palace’ for Henry VIII, where guests were entertained with spectacular revels and festivities, and wine and beer were drunk in enormous quantities, as evidenced by the great cellars that still survive here. Now with the restoration of Base Court, and the introduction of our magnificent wine fountain, palace visitors can join a centuries-old tradition and raise a glass to King Henry at his famous royal residence.”